Over the last decade or so, electronic devices responsible for establishing and maintaining wireless connectivity within a wireless network have increased in complexity. For instance, wireless electronic devices now support greater processing speeds and provide greater functionality. As a by-product of this increase in complexity, the amount of heat generated by processors and other circuitry forming the wireless electronic device has increased as well. Without proper heat dissipation, circuitry within these wireless electronic devices will exceed thermal thresholds more often, which will likely cause the device to operate less efficiently.
Currently, a number of heat dissipation measures are used for discharging heat from circuitry within a wireless network device. For example, heat sinks are one means for cooling such circuitry. Conventionally, a heat sink is a device that is directly attached to a semiconductor chip to keep it from overheating by convecting the heat generated from the chip to an ambient environment (e.g., air).
Basic components of a heat sink include (i) a heat spreader which makes thermal contact with the chip normally through a thermally conductive adhesive and (ii) a set of fins connected to the heat spreader and oriented upward to provide for convection of heat from the chip to the ambient environment. Herein, the purpose of the heat spreader is to provide good thermal conduction of heat emanating from the chip to the plurality of fins. The fins provide greater surface area for convection cooling.
However, in order to provide proper cooling for more advanced electronic circuitry, it is likely that multiple conventional heat sinks of different sizes will need to be deployed, which increases the cost of manufacture and is detrimental from a design perspective in that larger casings would be required in order to provide sufficient airflow for these heat sinks.